Through a partnership with Gleaners Community Food Bank, the YMCA of Metropolitan Detroit is hosting Cooking Matters, a six-week, hands-on cooking course that educates Detroit families how to get more food for their money and maximize nourishment from their food. Participants learn how to select nutritious and low-cost ingredients and prepare them in delicious and healthy ways.
The two-hour-per-week course has been underway since Jan. 13, and it has been a hit, says Terri Mial, Community Engagement Executive at the YMCA of Metropolitan Detroit. In addition to learning how to cook, families enrolled in the course receive free weekly groceries to cook the recipes at home.
“It’s going exceptionally well,” Terri said. “The families are learning lots of healthy eating tips and report weekly about how the sessions have changed their lives by now watching what they eat and what they purchase and also looking at labels when they shop for groceries.”
She said that one valuable element of the course is information received from the nutritionist, who uses powerful demonstrations to educate families on making wise food choices.
“For example, to show how much saturated fat was in a Whopper, medium fries and a chocolate shake, she piled 20 1/2 teaspoons of solid Crisco on a piece of bread. Yuck!” Terri said.
Terri said that as long as enough families sign up to take the next course, she hopes to continue teaching families how to eat healthier, how to shop for groceries on a budget, and how food affects the body.